Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Illness
is nothing new, here. Mary Alice became gravely ill during her early
twenties. Diagnosed with uncontrollable endometriosis in her mid
twenties, she was forced to quit work as a sou chef (which she loved)
and, by the time she was thirty years old, she had had a total
hysterectomy. At the same time that all of this was going on, Mary Alice
was struck down with a searing, debilitating intractable migraine that
just would not go away and that was untouched by any serious medication
protocol. Even morphine and fentanyl were of no benefit. A harrowing
inpatient trip to the Michigan Head Pain & Neurological Institute in
Ann Arbor succeeded in quantifying her pain to the satisfaction of her
doctors, but did nothing to help resolve the problem.

For those who are
unaware Mary Alice is the driving force behind the Gilbert House
Catholic Worker Community. It was Mary Alice who wanted the garden from
which to feed people. Mary Alice was the one who wanted to be available
for those who needed a mom, but didn't have one to rely on. Mary Alice
was the artist in need of a gathering of other artists in community.
Mary Alice was the one who craved Catholic fellowship and learning. Mary
Alice wanted to *LIVE* Social Justice. So, it is no wonder that, a
decade ago, when we went looking for a house and found a series of dumps
to choose from in which to do all of the above--and I kid you not--she deliberately chose the very worst
house we could find. It's like living with freaking Mother
Teresa...without the funding...or a plan. In fact, the only thing that
ever seems to really piss her off with regard to the running of the
house is when, "that fat old dead guy," G.K. Chesterton "steals" our
pittance gas money when wine-making season rolls around because, "that
money could be used for stuff we actually need; no one needs
wine."...I beg to differ.

...When we first started Gilbert House, Mary
Alice started walking several miles a day to help control her pain. On
good days she cooked for an army, cleaned, and went out to visit the
neighbours, bringing them bread or cookies. That first Spring we began
cutting in the garden, and collecting yard refuse from all over town to
help build our soil. Mary Alice was the one who began quietly
volunteering her time to do yardwork and garden pruning for our town's
elderly, and hauling all of their yard scraps home on a tarp dragged
down the street to add to our compost pile. Eventually, Mary Alice was
nannying for a couple of the families in our local parish, and teaching
art lessons to others. Even when she's busy with other things, her
response to social justice issues is as profound as it is quiet. No one
who has ever called us at four in the morning for help has ever been
turned away or left hanging--and that's because of Mary Alice, not me,
even though I'm the one who gets sent.

For the most part, in the midst of
all of it, Mary Alice has been able to control her chronic pain with a
regular daily schedule of exercise, chiropractic and acupuncture but
then, 03 December 2009, we were hit head on by a drunk driver and
everything has slowly gone downhill from there.

The last
few months especially, Mary Alice's well-being has been on a steady
decline. A daily pain level that used to be somewhere between a 5 and a 7
on the numeric rating scale is now regularly between an 8 or a 9, and
any exertion at all leaves her in tears, she's so miserable. Add to the
pain some new, weird, and intolerable additional symptoms--like
distracting sinus pain, feeling itchy and being hungry all the time,
24 hours a day, and this situation has become torture.

An emergency MRI
revealed nothing substantive. We have a neurologist's consult scheduled
for the morning of the 20th, but neither of us are really excited about
it. If they find the cause this time around, it will be an absolute
miracle. And we've been invited to a healing retreat at the end of the
month in the diocese of Green Bay, but with the crash we've had in
income, losing our computer, etc. we don't have the funds to go.The long
and the short of it is that Mary Alice started talking a couple of
weeks ago that if the current situation doesn't mend itself, she doesn't
have a lot of hope for her own future...and, honestly, neither do
I.

I've watched Mary Alice deal with a whole lot of stupid crap over the
past decade--from family, from friends, from me. She really doesn't
deserve any of it, but she has always dealt with the stabs and slights
graciously. A few years ago, a friend told her that because she doesn't
have the stamina to deal with a 40 hour-a-week job that Mary Alice is a
"drain on society"....One of her own sisters once sent us a letter
accusing her of being a thief because she couldn't afford to pay off
debt that she'd accrued before she became ill....In truth, both
accusations are a load of stinking garbage.

My best friend gives more of
herself for the good of others in a single day than most people would
willingly give in an entire year. She is selfless to a fault, and as
involved in her community, her church, and her apostolate as a human
being could be. I don't know what I will do if I lose her, but it seems
that this is becoming a very real possibility.

Christianity Untried

Chesterton says:"The Christian idealhas not been triedand found wanting.It has been found difficultand left untried."Christianity has not been triedbecause people thoughtit was impractical.And men have tried everythingexcept Christianity.And everythingthat men have triedhas failed. ~Peter Maurin

Gilbert House

in Glenwood City, Wisconsin

Thank You For Being Generous!

About Gilbert House

We are an intentional Distributist community in west-central Wisconsin striving together to live the ideals of the the Bible and the Catholic Worker Movement since 2004. We are actively engaged in sustainable gardening, corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy and living the most authentic Catholic Christianity possible with an eye towards the social teachings of the Church and the betterment of our youth and families. The lives and writings of Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day, G.K. Chesterton, Hillaire Belloc, Eric Gill and many others, for better or worse, inform our ideals and ambitions....

Contact us:

433 East Oak StreetGlenwood City, WI 54013715-265-4070

gkc.catholicworker{at}gmail.com

Why Gilbert House is not tax deductible:

In the tradition of our founders, Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, the Gilbert House Catholic Worker is not an incorporated agency or organization and donations made to us are not, therefore, tax deductible. We are also firmly opposed to possessing tax deductible status, even if this means that people will not help our cause. This is because as Catholic Workers, the means with which we achieve our ends come at a personal sacrifice, and the means are just as important as the ends themselves. If people, churches or organizations want to donate to the ongoing apostolate of any Catholic Worker House, they should do so because it is the right thing to do, not because the government gives them a tax write off. Our advice is simple: do what you can, with what you have, where you are. That is what we are trying to do, and we invite you to help. Omnia ad majorem Dei gloriam!

Current House Needs

Travel/pocket Bibles & journals/pens

travel toiletries and bath bags

grocery store gift cards

camp tarps and sleeping bag liners

gas cards

telephone cards

bicycles

*good* Christian novels books for guests

embroidery supplies and fabric

a roofer

sheet rock

greenhouse materials

vegetable and flower seeds

gardening supplies

copies of the Catechism

books

land for food raising

cash donations

"The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up." ~Dorothy Day

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"Where are the heroes and the saints, who keep a clear vision of man's greatest gift, his freedom, to oppose not only the dictatorship of the proletariat, but also the dictatorship of the benevolent state, which takes possession of the family, and of the indigent, and claims our young for war?" ~Dorothy Day.